PASSIONATE AND PURPOSEFUL RETIREMENT

I am going to sound like my mom did when she would talk about the new man in her life (and no, my family didn't really like him, but he made her happy and that was what mattered most)—“he reads the New York Times front to back everyday”.  I guess she wanted my family and I to think he was a well read man.  We just thought he was lazy and selfish because he would wake up at around ten, drive somewhere to buy the paper (he didn't subscribe so this was one way he could get away from mom while she cleaned or ran errands for the two of them) and then spend two hours reading.  Then they would go have some fun together.  How I am going to sound like her is that  I read the paper front to back every morning except on the weekends when at the lake house.  Not the NY Times though.  I subscribe to the local paper. I like reading about things going on in my neighborhood and also current worldly events. 

All of the above brings me to what I read the other day.   Dr. Delise Dickard wants me to make the most of my retirement.  She doesn't want me to feel lost without the demands of a job.  I can so see this happening!  She wants me to find passion.  So now I need to keep a list of what I am passionate about (so far the list would have reading, gardening, keeping journals, educating/researching,  traveling—at the top of the list for sure!, and…)

She wants me to “live with gusto”.  I envision life in Panama as being full of gusto for this gringo.  Everyday will be a challenge at first.  Maybe I will wake up and read the paper (online) for two hours, I hope to tinker in the yard, I will continue my blog, I want to travel the country at first to see all that there is in Panama and Costa Rica, and perhaps I could educate some Panamanians on oral hygiene (or even expats for that matter)?  I would love to start an exercise routine (ROUTINE is the key word here).  But could I be passionate about exercise J 

I am supposed to “explore new territory”.   This would go along with the fact that I am in a new country, for Pete’s Sake, and that I would explore my surrounding cities.  Oh, I would first explore the shopping malls. 

And while creating my bucket list, I am to “think creatively”.  I thought retiring to Panama was pretty creative.  

And finally, fun should be found in unlikely places.  Fun I expect to be found with the new friends I will have made in Panama,  laughing at the daily stresses/challenges Ray and I encounter just living in this new country instead of grinding my teeth (I will bring my nightguard as a just in case), driving around honking my horn like everyone supposedly does there (once I go through the grueling process of getting a drivers license), and just waking up every morning not having a particular care in the world except for when I should Skype Carly and my family and what I will have for breakfast that day.

Dr.  Dickard states that if I find fun in my retirement years, I will find purpose.  I should live each day so that I can just retire at night to the sound of the tv and resting at night only for the purpose of gaining energy for the next days discoveries.  So retiring to Panama seems passionate and purposeful to me!